Onomichi ramen is a specialty of the port city of Onomichi in Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture. It’s a type of shoyu ramen, seasoned with soy sauce tare and a special ingredient: dried sardines called niboshi.
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What Is Onomichi Ramen?
Onomichi ramen is a noodle soup invented at the Shukaen ramen shop in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan. Cooks usually make it with a chicken- or pork-based broth enhanced with niboshi, small dried sardines from the Seto Inland Sea. In Japan, Ramen restaurants typically categorize ramen noodle dishes based on the tare (seasoning) that the soup is flavored with: shio ramen (salt ramen); shoyu ramen (soy sauce ramen); miso ramen (fermented bean paste ramen). Onomichi ramen is a type of shoyu ramen, since the broth is seasoned with soy sauce. Common toppings include flat noodles, seabura (pork back fat), thinly sliced green onions, menma (bamboo shoots), and chashu pork.
3 Tips for Making Onomichi Ramen
Making ramen at home can be a daunting task, but with the right ingredients, it’s easy to customize to your own taste. Here’s what to know about onomichi ramen.
- 1. For depth of flavor, use dried sardines. You can make homemade seafood stock with fresh seafood like mussels or clams and scraps like shells or bones, or, you can add fish flavor the Japanese way: with dried seafood products. You may know katsuobushi (bonito flakes) as one of the main ingredients in dashi broth, but it’s not the only dried fish used in Japanese cuisine. Niboshi are small dried sardines (sometimes incorrectly labeled dried anchovies) that add notes of umami and brine to onomichi ramen broth.
- 2. Seek out pork fat. Shelf-stable pork back fat can be sourced from purveyors online, through your local butcher shop, or in the cured meat section of most grocery stores. Add it as the final step in building the broth to add a silky, hearty consistency to onomichi ramen.
- 3. Use flat ramen noodles. You can make onomichi ramen with any type of noodle, even dried instant ramen noodles, but for the authentic experience, use flat, rather than curly, noodles. Find them in your local Asian grocery store, or source them online. In Japan, ramen noodles are known as chuka soba (“Chinese noodles”).
Onomichi Ramen Recipe
makes
prep time
10 mintotal time
50 mincook time
40 minIngredients
For the soup base:
For the shoyu tare:
For the ramen toppings and assembly:
- 1
Make the dashi. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring kombu and 4 cups of water to a simmer.
- 2
Remove from the heat and take out the kombu.
- 3
Return the pot to the heat and add the katsuobushi, dried fish, and mushrooms.
- 4
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, and cook uncovered for 30 minutes.
- 5
Remove from the heat and set aside, covered, for 10 minutes.
- 6
Using a fine-mesh strainer, strain out the solids. Add pork fat, and cover to keep warm.
- 7
Make the shoyu tare. In a small skillet over medium-high heat, heat sesame oil until shimmering.
- 8
Add the garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- 9
Add the shoyu and mirin and remove from the heat.
- 10
Add the shoyu tare to the dashi stock one spoonful at a time until it tastes well seasoned.
- 11
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Cook the ramen noodles in boiling water according to package directions. When the noodles are al dente, remove the noodles from the water and drain well.
- 12
Divide noodles over two bowls and ladle the soup base over the noodles.
- 13
Top the bowls with menma, chashu, 1 half ramen egg, and the scallions.
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